[Peace-discuss] Fair Harvest in Nicaragua *PLEASE POST*

[meghan krausch]

This sounds like a great opportunity. CECOCAFEN is an amazing organization, 
and I think you will find those associated with it to be highly organized, 
highly motivated, very awesome people (having met a few on my own trip to 
Nicaragua). A trip to Nicaragua might not be as "roughing it" as you think, 
and Matagalpa is a beautiful city with a picturesque countryside. It is 
nothing like Managua. Airfare should be available for ~$600.


----Original Message Follows----
From: Melissa Schweisguth <melissa at globalexchange.org>
To: postusas <usas at yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [usas] FW: Fair Harvest in Nicaragua *PLEASE POST*
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2003 12:22:48 -0800

Announcing Fair Harvest Exchange Program 2004!!

This January, spend your vacation harvesting social justice!

Global Exchange is sponsoring several highly motivated individuals to travel
to Nicaragua this harvest season and work with a Fair Trade coffee
cooperative (CECOCAFEN).  Participants will live with a cooperative member
family and work along side the farmers to harvest the coffee.  You will
learn by participating in the daily lives of small-scale farming families
and begin to understand meaning of Fair Trade producers.  This is a unique
opportunity to experience the other side of the struggle for social and
economic justice.

Fair Harvest is not intended to be a tour or tourist visit, but rather to be
a lived experience that will motivate the participants to be committed
activists when they return.

Qualifications: Participants must be capable, self-reliant individuals with
some Spanish language ability.  You also must be dedicated to working on a
Fair Trade campaign in your community when you return. This may include
talking to the media, giving presentations, etc.

Length of stay: Fair Harvest is 12 days during January, 2004 (harvest
season).

Cost: Participants will need to provide their own airfare to and from
Nicaragua, plus an additional $400 to cover costs for Global Exchange and
CECOCAFEN.

Details of Cecocafen and the Fair Harvest Program are below. To apply,
please download the application from
www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/fairharvest.html
Fax filled out application to: 415-255-7498 (Attn: Valerie Orth) or mail to:
Global Exchange Fair Harvest Program
Valerie Orth
2017 Mission Street, Ste #303 San Francisco, CA 94110

Applications are due to Global Exchange by Dec. 15, 2003.

For more information, contact Valerie at 415-558-6938 or
valerie at globalexchange.org


ABOUT CECOCAFEN AND COFFEE PRODUCTION
CECOCAFEN
The Organization of Northern Coffee Cooperatives, or CECOCAFEN, is a second
level cooperative made up of 11 grass roots cooperatives, which represent
1,900 small scale coffee farmers in the north of Nicaragua. We are a
business and social organization that looks for better market conditions for
our producers in order to improve their quality of life. Our mission is to
produce high quality coffee, give the best service to our clients, and by
helping our producers have a more dignified life, make ³fair trade in the
field² a reality.

Our small-scale coffee farmers produce coffee in harmony with the local
ecology, in fact we use the shade of native and planted trees to create a
cool micro-climates where the coffee bushes thrive.  Close to one half of
the farmers are certified organic, and hundreds more avoid the use of
chemical inputs, practices that improve our coffee¹s flavor and quality.  It
is also important to mention that shade-grown coffee predominates among the
small-scale farms of the north.

NORTHERN NICARAGUA
The north of Nicaragua, made up of the departments of Matagalpa and
Jinotega, is a traditional coffee-growing region dating back to the middle
of the nineteenth century.  Coffee from this area is internationally
renowned for its high quality and balanced cup.

The geography of the north is favorable for coffee cultivation, especially
in the Isabelia Mountain Range, located in the northeast toward Peñas
Blancas, and in the Dariense Range (which includes the region of Yasica
Sur), in the southeast near the mountains of Fila Grande, Pancasan, and El
Apante.  These areas possess rich volcanic soils, a humid tropical forest
climate, and lush vegetation, including a great variety of lichens, moss,
ferns, and orchids.  Here, the rivers that supply potable water to farmers
in the rural zones and to the urban population are born.  The region is also
included in the BOSAWAS Natural Reserve, the largest land preservation
initiative in Central America.

CECOCAFEN¹S COFFEE: THE FLAVOR OF QUALITY
The quality of our coffee is created and maintained in all of the processes
and checkpoints throughout the agro industrial chain. We own SOLCAFE, a
state of the art dry mill, where all of the coffee we export is processed.

Among the principle influences on the quality of our coffee, we¹d like to
mention:
We pick, warehouse, and mill coffee in batches by region of origin. This
allows us to match up specific coffees with our client¹s needs.  We use all
of the appropriate technology and processes to create a high quality
product.  We constantly monitor all of the sub-processes to avoid any errors
that cause a lower quality flavor in the final cup.  We have a policy of
transparency and documentation throughout the whole process.  Our employees
are constantly learning to keep on top of the latest guidelines and rules
for certifications and producing quality.  We provide reliable and timely
information for our clients in order to help them market our coffee.

Currently we are in the process of receiving the ISO 9000/2002
certification. We are already certified by several organic agencies,
allowing us to sell certified organic coffee around the world.

Our modern cupping laboratory has become an essential tool, allowing us to
carry out a rigorous quality control program. We have several professional
cuppers, as well as all the necessary equipment and infrastructure to meet
the demands of our clients. Our quality control lab is also available for
the use of our buyers, who can come and cup all of our coffees and discover
for themselves the flavor of quality.

It is important that each Fair Harvester schedule a visit to SolCafe Dry
Mill, to see how coffee is processed and readied for export.

BETTER QUALITY OF LIFE
All of our efforts to produce specialty coffee translate into a higher
quality of life for our producer members. We use the concept of ³fair trade
in the field,² to conceptualize the idea of quality exchange: high quality
coffee in return for a higher quality of life.

We¹ve been able to negotiate good prices in the sale of our member¹s coffees
and because of this have been able to live our cooperative mission: a fair
distribution of the benefits of the coffee trade. We¹ve also developed
direct actions to improve the quality of life of our members; we work with
several local community development organizations in programs to improve
housing, schools, and local roads.

EDUCATION
We offer scholarships for children of our members, which offsets the costs
associated with high school, technical or university studies. Participants
in this program repay the scholarships through work in the cooperative, for
example they could help with the organic certification process or teach
people how to read in their community.  These activities increase their
commitment to the cooperative as well as strengthen the cooperatives and
their communities.

WOMEN
Involvement of the entire family is an integral part of the cooperative
process; women cooperative members and wives of members play an essential
role. We have a solidarity savings and loan program that more than 320 women
participate in. They are organized into 15 autonomous groups around
activities that diversity the family¹s income and compliment coffee
production.

Currently we have pilot projects in Wiwili and Yasica Sur where the
cooperatives participate in the integrated sustainable development of the
communities using the idea of ³fair trade in the field.²

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
As an organization we promote certified organic agriculture and shade-grown
coffee for all areas. We do this through the practices of:
1. Conserving water, good soil management, and agroforestry techniques.
2. Appropriate processing of solid and liquid wastes produced in the
depulping and washing of the coffee, to avoid contamination of the soil and
water sources. These byproducts are used to fertilize the coffee plants.

A combination of coffee trees with the existence of primary forest on the
farms allow us to protect and provide habitat for different birds and
animals, some of which are endangered species. These practices also
sequester carbon and produce oxygen.

CRAFTSMANSHIP
During the growing and harvesting of our coffee, in each annual cycle, the
work is carried out by hand under strict quality control guidelines by
artisans to guarantee specialty coffee to our clients.

The coffee is classified and separated during the harvest, transport,
storage, and milling to ensure that the quality of a given coffee is
properly identified and maintained.

Management of shade trees is essential to our agroecological production
practices.  Trees influence not only the quantity of coffee produced but
also effect the flavor of the beans. Tree management is carried out as part
of the farm plan depending on production, profitability and environmental
conservation needs.

The harvesting of the coffee is a defining step in the end quality of the
coffee. Only ripe, healthy, clean cherries are picked and they are processed
the same day.

Before depulping, the coffee cherries are put in water to easily identify
which ones are defective. After depulping, the machinery is washed to ensure
that beans from the previous day will not mix with new ones. Then the coffee
is fermented to remove the remainder of the fruit and carefully washed. The
amount of water that is used in this wet milling process is about 175 liters
of water for every 100 pounds of export ready coffee. This wastewater is
filtered and used appropriately on the farm. The sun drying process is done
on clean surfaces.

We know that management of the wet milling process is what guarantees good
quality, high yields, and a clean environment. Our coffee is the product of
a true artesanal process and our quality is what will guarantee us a place
in the market well into the future.


WHAT TO EXPECT

TYPICAL DAY¹S SCHEDULE: Wake up at 5AM to pick coffee.  Stop picking at
10AM, eat something, and process the morning´s harvest--depulp, ferment,
wash, dry, and sort, working with the family.  Eat lunch, and then help the
family with other work or do other activities in the community. Then relax.
Eat dinner around 6PM or 7PM, and go to bed shortly after the sun goes down.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: Visit local nature sites and observe wildlife (waterfalls,
forests, birds, sloths, orchids, etc.). Learn to cook typical foods, visit
other groups in the community, such as the barrios of hacienda laborers, to
learn what life is like for non-fair trade coffee farmers and laborers.
Learn about the history of cooperatives and how they are organized.

There will be a short orientation at the beginning of your visit in the city
of Matagalpa, in which you will learn about the cooperatives, coffee, and
more, as well as receive information about emergency precautions and
recommendations for staying healthy and enjoying oneself in the campo.

You can also get basic services in Matagalpa, like a grocery store, internet
cafe, international phone service, etc.

HOUSING & FACILITIES:  Volunteers will stay with a family, sleeping in a bed
that will not be as comfortable as they are used to, and not as much privacy
either.  All of the houses have outdoor latrines, and toilet paper will be
provided.  Water will be boiled to purify it for drinking purposes.
Volunteers are encouraged to bring a mosquito net (or buy one in Matagalpa
upon arrival). There is electricity in many of the houses in the community,
but not all. There are no telephones in the communities.


COMMUNITIES FOR FAIR HARVEST PROGRAM
El Roblar and La Corona are in the Yasika Sur region, in the department of
Matagalpa, about an hour to two hours by bus from the city of Matagalpa (or
30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half by truck).  Within these two communities
are three base cooperatives of small coffee producers‹one cooperative of
only women, one of only organic and in-transition producers, and one mixed
gender and mixed production (conventional and organic), all of which are
member cooperatives of CECOCAFEN (which itself is a second-level cooperative
organization).  These producers produce not only coffee, but also fruits,
vegetables, a bit of cacao, and of course corn and beans.

In Yasika Sur, CECOCAFEN has promulgated an integrated development
initiative, which includes promotion of organic production, diversification
of production, enhanced quality control of production, the creation of more
marketable origin brands of coffee, agroecological and social research, and
a program to diversify away from export products and low-price agricultural
products, namely the creation of a small ecotourism program in the area.

As part of the development initiative, the cooperatives decided that 20% of
every tourism fee (lodging, food, guides, etc) will automatically go to a
Community Development Fund, to fund community projects as the community sees
fit.  This could mean investing in the local schools, in reinvestment in
infrastructure to improve conditions in the community, and more.


------
Global Exchange Fair Trade & Economic Rights Campaigns
fairtrade at globalexchange.org
415.255.7296
415.255.7498  fax
2017 Mission Street #303, San Francisco, CA 94110
http://www.globalexchange.org/economy/coffee
http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa

Global Exchange is a non-profit research, education, and action center
working for political, economic, environmental, and social justice on a
global scale.  We work to increase international awareness among the U.S.
public emphasizing struggles for peace, justice, and equality while building
meaningful international partnerships.  Our organization also promotes fair
trade with worldwide cooperatives and small producers and strives to create
a more fair and just U.S foreign policy.




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